Introduction
The kendo (literally "the way of the sword") is the modern version of the kenjutsu (sword techniques), the saber fencing practiced in Japan by the samurai. By modern version, it should be understood that kendo is not only a martial art but also a competitive sport, now widely practiced in Japan.
Kendo, however, is not limited to a simple set of techniques and tactics of fighting the saber. It also includes a spiritual component. Kendo allows practitioners to develop their strength of character and determination.
History
"Kendo is the oldest, most respected, and most popular form of modern Buddhist discipline," said Donn F. Draeger, one of the Japanese martial arts specialists in 1983.
After a long period of wars and the unification of the country by the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japan enters an era of peace that will last more than 260 years, the Edo period (1600-1868), during which Kenjutsu, which has lost its finality on the battlefield, continues to be taught as part of the formation of the ruling caste, that of the bushi (or samurai): the kenjutsu is one of the eighteen martial arts that must be practiced by bushi. Many treatises on the sword were published at that time in Japan such as the Gorin no shō by Miyamoto Musashi or the Hagakure by Yamamoto Jocho. From "saber to kill" (setsuninto), the kenjutsu evolves towards "sword to live" (katsuninken) by the study of which the practitioner forges his personality. In order to facilitate the practice hitherto limited to katas with bokken or real sword, Naganuma Shiro developed at the beginning of the eighteenth century the bamboo saber (shinai) and various protections (bogu) in order to authorize strikes during the assaults. Along with the improvement of the material that takes the definitive shape that we know it today shortly before the end of the Edo era, the kenjutsu evolves towards its modern form, kendo.
At the Restoration of Meiji (1868), the wearing of the sword was prohibited by imperial decree in 1876, the samurai class was dissolved and the martial arts fell into disuse with the introduction of Western military techniques. Martial arts, including kenjutsu, were reborn in police schools and the first martial arts federation in 1878, but Nihon Butokukai was founded in Kyoto in the Butokuden dojo in 1895. Until then, kenjutsu in 1912 that it is made for the first time mention of the kendo in the publication of Nihon Kendo no Kata (Kata for the kendo). The West discovers kendo since the nineteenth century through travel stories, but it was not until 1899 that the first demonstration of kendo in France took place on the occasion of the visit of the creator of modern judo Jigoro Kano.
The defeat of Japan in 1945 is a severe blow to the Japanese martial arts in general and kendo in particular, responsible according to the American occupant to convey a militaristic ideology via the bushido. Kendo was thus banned after the war, but his practice continued under the name of "competition to the Shinai" until 1952 when the Japanese Kendo Federation (Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei) was formed. On this occasion, masters are dispatched abroad. This is how Master Minoru Mochizuki, then 4th dan of kendo comes to France. Under the control of these Japanese masters, sometimes rivals, France began the practice of kendo in the early 1950s under the aegis of the French Federation of Aikido, Tai-Jitsu and Kendo created in 1958 by Jim Alckeik, Emile Blanc and Robert Ebgui, it organizes the first championship of France of kendo in 1959.
International Federation of Kendo (FIK)
The kendo (literally "the way of the sword") is the modern version of the kenjutsu (sword techniques), the saber fencing practiced in Japan by the samurai. By modern version, it should be understood that kendo is not only a martial art but also a competitive sport, now widely practiced in Japan.
Kendo, however, is not limited to a simple set of techniques and tactics of fighting the saber. It also includes a spiritual component. Kendo allows practitioners to develop their strength of character and determination.
History
"Kendo is the oldest, most respected, and most popular form of modern Buddhist discipline," said Donn F. Draeger, one of the Japanese martial arts specialists in 1983.
After a long period of wars and the unification of the country by the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japan enters an era of peace that will last more than 260 years, the Edo period (1600-1868), during which Kenjutsu, which has lost its finality on the battlefield, continues to be taught as part of the formation of the ruling caste, that of the bushi (or samurai): the kenjutsu is one of the eighteen martial arts that must be practiced by bushi. Many treatises on the sword were published at that time in Japan such as the Gorin no shō by Miyamoto Musashi or the Hagakure by Yamamoto Jocho. From "saber to kill" (setsuninto), the kenjutsu evolves towards "sword to live" (katsuninken) by the study of which the practitioner forges his personality. In order to facilitate the practice hitherto limited to katas with bokken or real sword, Naganuma Shiro developed at the beginning of the eighteenth century the bamboo saber (shinai) and various protections (bogu) in order to authorize strikes during the assaults. Along with the improvement of the material that takes the definitive shape that we know it today shortly before the end of the Edo era, the kenjutsu evolves towards its modern form, kendo.
At the Restoration of Meiji (1868), the wearing of the sword was prohibited by imperial decree in 1876, the samurai class was dissolved and the martial arts fell into disuse with the introduction of Western military techniques. Martial arts, including kenjutsu, were reborn in police schools and the first martial arts federation in 1878, but Nihon Butokukai was founded in Kyoto in the Butokuden dojo in 1895. Until then, kenjutsu in 1912 that it is made for the first time mention of the kendo in the publication of Nihon Kendo no Kata (Kata for the kendo). The West discovers kendo since the nineteenth century through travel stories, but it was not until 1899 that the first demonstration of kendo in France took place on the occasion of the visit of the creator of modern judo Jigoro Kano.
The defeat of Japan in 1945 is a severe blow to the Japanese martial arts in general and kendo in particular, responsible according to the American occupant to convey a militaristic ideology via the bushido. Kendo was thus banned after the war, but his practice continued under the name of "competition to the Shinai" until 1952 when the Japanese Kendo Federation (Zen Nippon Kendo Renmei) was formed. On this occasion, masters are dispatched abroad. This is how Master Minoru Mochizuki, then 4th dan of kendo comes to France. Under the control of these Japanese masters, sometimes rivals, France began the practice of kendo in the early 1950s under the aegis of the French Federation of Aikido, Tai-Jitsu and Kendo created in 1958 by Jim Alckeik, Emile Blanc and Robert Ebgui, it organizes the first championship of France of kendo in 1959.
International Federation of Kendo (FIK)
